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The Great Antarctic Crossing
 Ramón Larramendi, Juanma Viu et Ignacio Oficialdegui

The Spanish adventurer, Ramón Larramendi, accompanied by Juanma Viu and Ignacio Oficialdegui, will be attempting to make the 2nd longest crossing of Antarctica (after the trek made by Jean-Louis Etienne in 1989-90), leaving from the start of the polar plateau and arriving, 5000 km later, at the French base of Dumont d'Urville via two of the less well known poles: the Pole of Inaccessibility (i.e. furthest from the coast) and the Magnetic South Pole. All without any outside aid.

To achieve his goal, Larramendi has invented a new concept: a sledge 5 metres long by 3 metres wide, with his tent attached to the sledge at all times.

The sledge itself (600 kg) will be pulled by a giant traction sail. The team hopes to average 85 km a day and complete the trip in around sixty days.

Scheduled departure: beginning of November 2005

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This expedition was pencilled in last year already (and in 2003-2004) on the schedule for the Antarctic season. But like a number of other projects and with insufficient budget, the expedition was unable to get underway. This time, though, the signs are that the funding for the Spanish expedition is finally in place.